Day: May 23, 2014

Next meeting: 21 June 2014 from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m at the John Igo Library, 13330 Kyle Seale Pkwy. Sasha Summers presents Mythology and the Muse. From Homer’s The Odyssey to Rick Riordan House of Hades series, readers are still passionate about these characters and their adventures. Why? Explore the connection between iconic archetypes and the Olympians, their classic tropes and themes, and using mythic elements to develop rich conflict and riveting stories for today’s readers.

Sasha is part gypsy. Her passions have always been storytelling, history, romance, and travel. She writes both lyrical romantic fantasy, steamy contemporary romance, young adult, and scifi romance. She loves getting lost in the worlds and characters she creates; even if she frequently forgets to run the dishwasher or wash socks when she’s doing so. Luckily, her four brilliant children and hero-inspiring hubby are super understanding and supportive.

That’s it for chapter business. The rest of this post is a sampling of online workshops, all beginning June 2.

RWA Chapter Workshops

June 2-27: Ten Minutes to Glory: Your Editor-Agent Pitch. Laurie Schnebly Campbell. A face-to-face pitch with the editor or agent of a writer’s dreams can be the best experience imaginable…or the worst. Participants finish this workshop ready to draft their pitch from start to finish, and present it with a more compelling delivery. (Even those who still suffer from stage fright report getting requests for a full manuscript with their class-prepared pitch!). $25. http://crw-rwa.ning.com/page/2013-onlineworkshops#june1

June 2-13: Not My Circus, Not My Monkey: Navigating the Social Side of Publishing. Melissa Cutler. Class will cover: social media (including Goodreads), conferences, guest blogging, street teams, Goodreads, querying for cover quotes, Yahoo loop dos and don’ts, and how to respond to reviews. http://rwasd.com/training/index_cutler.html

June 2-27: Some Like It Hot: Writing the Erotic Romance. Louisa Bacio. The workshop will cover the basics of characterization and motivation, and then delve into the heart: The sex scene(s). When writing about the physical aspects of love, it takes more than the cliché of “putting tab A into slot B.” The love scenes need to come organically from the work that’s being created, and the reader needs to believe in the connection. When it comes to pacing, workshop attendees will learn how not to give it all up right away. In the second half of the class, we’ll look at how various genres handle the subject and situations. Finally, we’ll close out with tips for publishing, the query process and potential markets. $30. http://www.marylandromancewriters.com/some-like-it-hot-writing-the-erotic-romance/

June 2-6: Snidely Whiplash, Look Out! Building a Better Villain. Beth Henderson. What sort of villain do you need in your story? Are they Snidley Whiplash melodramatically evil or the subtle type? Is their villainy more stabbing a neighbor in the back verbally or physically? A bully on the playground or on the prom committee? Are they predators, whether paranormal or not? Do they have powers we mere mortals (also known as the rest of the cast in the story) need to go up against, or not? We love our hero and heroines but sometimes (a lot of the time!) the villain is much more fun to create – AND BE – in your story. In BUILDING A BETTER VILLAIN we’ll spend a week considering our villainous options. Lots of questions to answer to create the character we never want to be but without whom our main characters would not have a story worth the telling. Villains are pivotal points for a plot, you see. Oddly enough, a villain doesn’t necessarily need to be human, demon, fae, or alien. It can also be Mother Nature or a troubling situation. Which means you can have more than one sort of villain in a story for your main characters to deal with. Snidley Whiplash is the Mr. Potato Head version of a villain, no doubt, but as they used to say of the soon-to-be-bionic man, “we can build him better.” And we’ll begin drawing up those schematics over the course of one week. $15. http://crw-rwa.ning.com/page/2013-onlineworkshops#june3

June 2-27: Flipping the Dust Bunnies!: Rewriting and Recycling the Abandoned Manuscripts Hiding under Your Bed and on the Floor of the Closet. Beth Henderson. This course is about finding the redeeming elements and jettisoning those that bog things down. It’s about rethinking, rewriting, reconstructing, reworking, and flipping those once discarded ideas into publishable manuscripts.

“Flipping” works for do-it-yourselfers when it comes to taking a house in need of tender care and turning it into a desirable property once more through simple remodeling tasks. When it has achieved all of this attention it turns into a home for someone else, and at a profit for the “flipper.” So why can’t the concept work on any and all manuscripts gathering dust in closets, file boxes in attics or garages, or communing with the dust bunnies under the bed? It can. And this is the place to begin reevaluating, tearing apart, and rebuilding a more desirable manuscript from the shell of that uncompleted or tired out manuscript. $20.00. http://lowcountryrwa.com/workshops/all-workshops/#JUN

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About SARA

San Antonio Romance Authors is a chapter of the Romance Writers of America® (RWA), a nonprofit trade association whose mission is to advance the professional interests of career-focused romance writers through networking and advocacy.
No matter where you are in your journey—beginner, intermediate, or long-standing published author—your voice, your talent, and your energy are welcome here.